


Growth

by somefangirl



Series: Friends and Family [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 00:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2047020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somefangirl/pseuds/somefangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy had grown a lot since Ace had last seen him...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growth

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so, if anyone here uses tumblr, its currently "A Week Of No Regrets" aka ASL week! In other word, a week to celebrate the ASL brothers. Every day of the week gives a one-word prompt which you can do edits and writing and stuff for. Well, I wanted to do something for ASL week, but I can't edit. So I was kinda bummed until I remembered I can write something for ASL week!
> 
> So I pushed back everything else I was writing and made my sole priority to work on something for ASL week because I had to be a part of it. 
> 
> This is for Day 5: Growth

When Ace left his little brother all alone on Dawn Island, he was worried. Who wouldn't be? Luffy hated being alone, and now he was leaving him to be just that for three years! Not only that, but Luffy and Trouble were practically joined at the hip. Sure, Luffy was strong, but he was still upset. The kid couldn't even swim! But as much as he'd love to make sure Luffy didn't fall in a lake and drown as soon as he left (he wouldn't put it past him), he had to leave at 17 to be a pirate. That's what he promised Sabo. And he couldn't exactly take his fourteen year old brother with him, could he?

Not if he wanted his brother to be alive.

He wondered, briefly, if Sabo were alive, how things could have been different. But he quickly pushed those thoughts aside; he couldn't do anything about it now. So he set off with a smile on his face, excited to go into the world he knew so little about.

* * *

 

When he ran into his little brother three years later, the boy practically glowed with happiness, like the sun. His crew didn't seem to believe they were related (and they weren't, but they were close enough that they could have been), saying he was "too polite to be Luffy's brother". If they had seen him when he was a kid, they probably would've said otherwise.

Ace sure had grown over the years, now that he thought about it. He figured it was probably because of the rubber kid who was currently in front of him, bragging about his new crew. And of course Ace was listening and not mentally reminiscing, there was no way he'd ignore his little brother!

...Except for when he was being annoying, like little brothers tend to do. But he was listening right now, so that counted.

Luffy had grown in the last three years, too. At first glance, he was still the same rubber-brained idiot with a contagious smile and simplistic way of thinking (some things never change), but Ace knew him well enough to notice things beyond that. Other than the fact that he had gotten taller, he had gotten stronger too. Ace had seen the bounty and heard the rap sheet his little brother had acquired (he may also have thrown a _small_ party. But hey, that was something to celebrate!). Not bad for a first, and it would certainly go up in the future. He couldn't wait to see how big it would be a year from now. And then in two, three years, he wondered how big it could grow.

...Assuming the dumbass didn't get himself killed first, that is. He was going to fight the Shichibukai Crocodile, after all. It took everything in Ace's power to stop himself from stopping Luffy from killing himself on his mission.

He could get really hurt! And if he fell into water, Ace couldn't save him anymore! (Ace chose to ignore the fact they were in a desert and so there was no water for Luffy to fall into and that Luffy had a whole crew that could jump in and save him in favor of being a worried overprotective brother).

But Ace grudgingly had to admit Luffy was much stronger than he was three years ago. Apperantly, not having Ace there to protect him had really improved the kid's skills. Ace tried not to let that get to him.

Ace's eyes fell to the other crew members. He saw the swordsman, Zoro, looking right back at him. He then looked away, to Luffy. Ace could see the main emotions in his gaze: pride, loyalty, fondness. Those were the most prominent. If Ace had to guess, Zoro was probably the first mate. Then again, Luffy didn't play favorites like that.

His gaze fell upon the redhead next. She was Nami, the navigator. She was watching Luffy talk with the same fondness and loyalty and joy that Zoro had had in his gaze.

He looked to the long-nosed one next. Usopp, wasn't it? Yeah, that was it. His eyes told the same story. When he looked around, everyone shared those same emotions. Even the cook, with only one visible eye who seemed to only care about the two women had the same expression.

Luffy had really found a great crew, huh? He seemed to just draw great people to himself. Ace found himself once again comparing his little brother to the sun. Shining light into the darkness, giving hope to the hopeless and strength to the weak. He couldn't wait to see Luffy's crew when he got more members.

As he traveled the desert with his brother (who was still bragging about his crew. Honestly, that was going straight to all of their heads. Even the cook and swordsman, who were trying and failing to appear indifferent showed obvious pride when he spoke of them), Ace noticed more little differences about him. He wasn't scared of fire anymore. He had been scared of it after Gray Terminal, and although the fear had slowly deteriated after a while, it had still made him uncomfortable when Ace had left. Well, part of the reason Ace had even eaten the Mera Mera no Mi was to help Luffy get over that fear, so it was good to see he had grown out of it.

Ace could see that Luffy had grown from the little 7 year old he always had to protect to a fine pirate captain of a strong crew. He handed his little brother the Vivre Card (which he could tell Luffy had no idea what it was or how to use it) and left with a promise to meet up again. And he couldn't wait to see how much his little brother had grown by then.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment what you thought, and if you liked it, subscribe to the series for more (completely unrelated) oneshots like this one! I'm always open to suggestions, so tell me what you'd like to see next!


End file.
